Ice To Meet You, Comrade! (IC)

[Geez3r]

It had been months since Atlas had seen this shore. His trip to Russia had been eventful to say the least, and things got pretty complicated for a while there, but he had finally gotten a handle on things. It had been a struggle, but he had come out of stronger than when he had gone in. For that he was grateful. But it was really good to finally be going home. He could sleep in his own bed, in his own house, comforted by his own cat. Stopping off at Mrs Jones' was the first order of business. As he stepped off the pier and back into Freedom City proper, he felt quite glad to be home again, and also wondering how much had really changed.

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter sighed as she skated across the sky under a constantly growing pillar of ice. She was glad her fingers had grown back after that unfortunate incident with that mugger and a shotgun. But that wasn''t important. She was just happy to be out again. She wasn't far off the pier or the very spot Atlas got of from the boat...

...When she slipped and suddenly found herself plummeting head first towards the ground. She sighed as she crossed her arms and waited for the inevitable. If I'm lucky, I might hit the water. She thought. Somehow she was not that hopeful that her situation would improve.

[Geez3r]

And some things never change... thought Atlas he saw his first super hero literally 30 seconds after he had been back in Freedom. He had really forgotten how many of them there were. He recognized her as Lady Winter, another Russian superhero. He had been meaning to talk to her, but things had come up and he'd been putting it off. Right now, it was getting his cat back. He hadn't taken more than 3 or 4 steps, when he heard gasps from the crowd. Turning around, he saw Lady Winter falling out of the sky. Something had to be wrong. Atlas leapt into the air, shifting from his human form to his larger form in mid air.

Using a maneuver that had seen more than it's fair share of uses in Freedom City, Atlas scooped Lady Winter up, and held her close, cushioning her as much as possible. He finished his leap on one of the nearby rooftops and set Lady Winter down gently, before reverting to human form. "Are you alright? What happened up there?" he asked concerned.

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter was a bit too busy staring at the pavement below her to not notice a large red shape snatch her out of the air. She was surprised at first, up until she remembered she was in Freedom City. She looked up and was shocked to see that she was in the arms of Atlas. She always thought he was some sort of world destroying monster that used to be a hero. Then again, she only heard that from second hand sources. People were bad at telling her news these days.

As soon as she found her feet back on something solid, she quickly dusted some stray frost off her coat. She looked back, a bit surprised he wasn't so large anymore and smiled. "Oh, I'm fine. Nothing serious. I just slipped."

[Geez3r]

"...You just fell?" repeated Atlas, a little unsure that he had heard her right. "Were you trying to do a trick or something or...?" You heard a lot of stuff in Freedom. Heroes falling out of the sky on their way to and from a scene was rarely one of them. He didn't want to accuse her of anything because god knows there could be a half dozen different plausible explanations and a good 3 dozen implausible ones that would explain this state of affairs. "You didn't seem to be trying to save yourself either. You bullet proof or something?"

[Darksider42]

"No no, my foot simply slipped and I followed it on way down. Traveling on ice is faster than being on foot, but with it being so slippery it is not safest way I admit." Lady Winter said, the blue tinge on her cheeks fading a little as if she was embarrassed by the whole thing. "As for why I did not stop myself...Well, I'm somewhat bulletproof. Everything else just grows back." She shifted uncomfortably on the spot while she scratched at her fingers. She didn't look like she wanted to get into details of exactly how that would have been reason enough not to save herself. "Oh! I forgot to thank you. I'm sorry. Not used to being rescued."

[Geez3r]

Atlas didn't really know what to say to that. Sure, he knew ice was slippery, duh, but he always thought that superheroes with the ice powers didn't slip on the ice they made. Perhaps it required lots of practice that the average guy didn't see? Atlas knew that it took him a very long time to get the distances right on his leaps. And he had always braced for impact, even out of sheer instinct and habit. Maybe regeneraters were just reckless? "No it's alright. It's what we do right?" replied Atlas modestly. "Though actually I've been meaning to talk to you." continued Atlas deciding to not put it off any longer. "Nothing specifically, I just wanted to meet another Russian superhero. So, hi."

[Darksider42]

Lady winter smiled. "Yes. Thought not as long as I would like." She said. Apparently, not everyone instantly knew every aspect of their powers without practice. Her eyebrow quirked up when Atlas mentioned wanting to talk to her."Oh! Well, makes sense. There is not that many Russian superheroes around this city." She noted. "I was considering seeing you as well. Though there were rumors about you being some sort of alien supervillain. Of course, I can't remember if I was around when that Grue invasion happened. My memory is quite spotty at best with some things." Coincidently, recovering from a bullet wound to the head does things to you.

[Geez3r]

"Yeah...." says Atlas rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "The Grue did some experiments on me, making me a Grue/human hybrid. I took to the process better than any of the other "candidates". Because the Grue are a hivemind, the Meta Mind was able to mind control me into attacking the city and leading the Invasion force. But I'm still me, I've always been me, with the exception of that one day." explained Atlas. He had come to terms with what had happened during the Invasion during his trip abroad. It felt weird to discuss it out in the open though.

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter looked irked once the word experiment came across. Then there was confusion on her face. It bugged her and for the life of her, she could not figure out why. She shook her head while looking at the Atlas. "I was not aware experiments were involved. I hope the Meta Mind does not try to take control of you again. You seem to be strong enough to break free like Pseudo from the League." She really did hope so. She doubted she could take down Atlas if he was possessed again. "...Perhaps we change subject? You do not look comfortable. Lady winter said with a laugh.

[Geez3r]

Atlas chuckled at Lady Winter's suggestion. "" said Atlas trying to put her fears to rest. "

[Darksider42]

"" Lady Winter said with a shrug. <"If I was looking for tip offs, it would be how I became...Well, this.>" She raised her hand, blue skin producing a light sheen of fog from the heat of the sun above. ""

[Geez3r]

"" replied Atlas. "" said Atlas a little ruefully. Shifting his weight to the other leg and crossing his arms, he continued "" said Atlas a little tentatively. He didn't want to force the issue if she didn't want to pursue it.

[Darksider42]

Lady winter laughed again. "" Her smile did fade once more when the conversation turned back to her past. "" She sighed, bringing a stream of mist from her lips. ""

[Geez3r]

"" said Atlas comfortingly. He knew it was scary to not know how you suddenly got powers far beyond those of mortal men, or in this case women. "" said Atlas eager not to have his first day back be an angst-fest, he had gone through enough of that as is. "

[Darksider42]

"" Lady Winter said witha nod. She was glad the conversation turned away from herself, if her smile returning was any indication. ""

[Geez3r]

"<... Right. Forgot what city we were talking about here.>" mused Atlas as he rubbed the back of his neck. "" Atlas said the last part as if he was thinking aloud to himself. He hadn't really talked to any of the heroes in Freedom for the past couple of months. He doubted if most of them even knew he was coming back today. He was hoping that a few of them had at least noticed him gone.

[Darksider42]

"" Lady Winter said, the colour of her face fading away. ""

[Geez3r]

Atlas contemplated for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders. "" he said with a smile. Atlas looked around the buildings for a moment trying to get his bearings. "" explained Atlas pointing out towards the west side of the city. "" he added as an aside. "

[Darksider42]

<"Do not worry. The city can survive a few minutes. Bad guy attacks don't happen all the time.>" Lady Winter said with the same smile as before. "" As she spoke, the ground around her feet quickly started to frost over. Mist was starting to fill the air. ""

[Geez3r]

Atlas had to chuckle at that. He had actually forgotten Lady Winter had taken a spill a moment ago because he recovered from the embarrassment so quickly. "Alright then. See if you can keep up." said Atlas as some steam came out of his mouth due to the dropping temperature. He took off at a fast jog towards one edge of the roof, hitting running speed for the last two steps, and then he was airborne. He managed to go roughly 200 feet in a single bound, skipping over 2 buildings and landing on the third. He went fast enough to show off, but slow enough that Lady Winter could likely keep up easily. "I feel like I've been asking all the questions. is there anything you'd like to ask me?" called out Atlas as he reached the apex of his leap.

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter didn't have too much trouble trying to keep up with Atlas. She did appear to have sliding around on a rapidly forming ice path down well enough. She tapped her chin in thought while making sure not to fall off and make a fool of herself. ""

[Geez3r]

"" responded Atlas as he went for a longer and higher leap, seeing that Lady Winter could still keep up with him quite easily. "As for what happened to me in Russia, I was there for about 5 months so it's a rather long story. Suffice to say that me getting in a bar fight and being arrested a few hours after I got into Russia was one of the high points of the trip.>" said Atlas with a laugh as if he had just told a dead baby joke.

[Darksider42]

Lady Winter still managed to keep up with Atlas, even if that meant pouring a bit more concentration at forming her frozen path and making sure she didn't slip. She tried her best to remain by his side, even if things were starting to resemble something of a roller coaster. "" She said with a similar laugh. ""

[Geez3r]

"" explained Atlas a little gravely. "" Related Atlas as he chuckled darkly.

"" said Atlas as he took off on his next leap.